#speaker report

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Speaker Report. David Eustace

David enjoys seeing a happy world. A world of joy. He went on to talk about the concept of “Daft Ideas” and their value to us and his life. His life was full of daft ideas that have taken him to where he is today. We have been encouraged to follow those daft ideas we have ourselves, and to enjoy the journey as its as important as the destination. He made the comment of not listening to those doubters out there. That we should listen to our guts and instincts. David talked about his life starting at college to working for magazines in London. During this he explained he did a lot of adverts. He goes on to talking about turning 40 and going to NY. During his time in the USA he worked for Anthropologie. One of the projects he talked about was the $65 dress. The concept behind this project bridged adverts and art. This made Anthropologie nervous. He went on to explain that he wanted to do a road trip called in search of Eustace. This is a town in the USA. He used this time to create a story with his journey. He asked us to be story tellers with our work. To quote “There is no such thing as a daft idea. We don’t know how things will turn out. Just to do it and put in the effort” He advises we create physical folios and to do this often. To create our own work. Self-doubt is normal so relax it shows we care. 

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Speaker Report Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Mitchell 08/01/19 A documentary photographer who looks at communities and the worlds of children. She looks at the place they live and society around them. This is done with long-term documentation. Margaret creates her own work and is also commissioned. The work is classed as social/environmental portraits. She asks if the work needs explanation or if it have its own merit. The work on display is of her own family. She explains her approach to this and how the permissions work. She states that equipment is not the thing that makes the photographer. It’s the content of the images or body of work that’s important. The work comes from her own preceptive and places heavy emphasis on places and objects. Margaret has had her work displayed in various places ranging from street level to The Royal photographic Society. Margaret also said that competitions are great for exposure and we should look to enter any we can.

[hnd2cjohnmceachran-blog]

Speaker Report Mark Man

09/01/2019 Wed pm              Mark Mann “skyped from NY” https://www.markmannphoto.com https://www.facebook.com/markmannphoto/ http://www.scotlandnow.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/meet-scots-photographer-who-shot-3295515 Worth reading the article. A few of things said and questions asked are covered in it. This is the “other stuff from my notes. He started off with an HND and no idea how to make money. He went to New York for two weeks and ended up staying. Meet his other half who he credited with being sensible enough to have a real job to pay the bills. He talked about the realism of photography where there are times with jobs flying in the door and other times where nothing is happening. These are the times to go and create something that might just be for yourself or for a folio etc. He also talked about the need to be diverse and have the ability to be flexible in the work you can take on. He talked about the need to keep your work fresh and keep evolving. Keeping an eye on the trends. That having a good manager that pushes you and assists you is important but going out on your own to do this is just as important if not more so. Be genuine with people. Don’t let the person in front of you be above you or openly make you nervous. Whoever is in front of you don’t start with flattery. It’s better to start with a comment that everyone can relate too. “Traffic was murder today” type of thing. Everyone can relate to this. Practice with people you know. Use them to create work that you can use. They do not have to be a model perfect person to get good photos. Chatting with the subject and even playing a bit with their emotions can create a moment between the actual shot where a person’s expression is interesting and emotive. Mistakes on shots will happen but control this. Let the team sort issues if you have one. If not just slow yourself and the shoot down. Say you are thinking about things or get the subject to go and get changed a few times until the issue is sorted. Always look as though you’re in control. As in previous comments on knowing your kit and approach. This leaves you free to be with the subject on that one to one level. He now uses the Rotto system. Again close and powered down.

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